About Me

Sunday, 13 December 2015

The latest book I have read ...

"Mr. Orwell's indignant and unsparing realism is a sound tonic for us! It is convincing realism; and it is as illuminating as it is distressing." - John Cowper Powys

I have just finsihed reading Burmese Days by George Orwell which I bought during my recent trip to Myanmar and what a magnificent book it was. Despite having been set in the days of the British Empire much of what has been referred in regards to behavioural attitudes still resonates in terms of nowadays corruption and bigotry (in general).

I had forgotten how Orwell's narrative excellency and graphic description could easily capture one's interest, as I hadn't read any other of his books since University times, when Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty Four (1949) the ones who brought him world wide recognition as a writer.were compulsory reading.

To be honest I had never heard of this particular book, which is said to have been his first (1934) but it will certainly be responsible for my further exploration of George Orwell's literary production as I can't help but buy some more of his books.

" It is not the less bitter because it is perhaps one's own fault, to see oneself drifting, rotting in dishonorous and horrible futility, and all the while knowing that somewhere whithin one there is the possibility of a decent human being." - Burmese Days